Two youths detained for blocking highway

Thursday, November 22, 16:21 Operation Pillar of Defense is over – Time to ‘take care of the settlers’
Students of Karnei Shomron’s yeshiva high school protested rock throwing on the roads. Two youths were detained. Honenu states: “It appears that for the settlers there is no cease fire”.
Two minors, residents of Karnei Shomron, were detained this afternoon at the entrance to their community after they protested against the attacks on the roads by Arabs from the nearby village of Azon. Motorists on the road passing Karnei Shomron are frequently targets of rocks and Molotov cocktails thrown by the local Arabs. The frequency has greatly increased during the past week due to the IDF operation “Pillar of Defense” in the Gaza Strip.
Today in the early afternoon hours approximately 20-25 youths from Karnei Shomron’s yeshiva high school went out to protest at the intersection of the entrance road to their community and the main highway. The road leading to Karnei Shomron is a constant target for attacks by the Arabs of Azon, which have more than once resulted in fatalities. Residents of the area say that rock throwing incidents are already a regular occurrence and one resident says that, “A rock can kill. Unfortunately we have become accustomed to rock throwing incidents. A Molotov cocktail surprises us a bit more. It has become such a common occurrence that people have become well acquainted with the procedure for receiving compensation [for damage to cars] from the government.”
A friend of the detainees described the incident. At some point during the protest, which at no time showed any signs of violence, an unmarked car arrived at the site and several people got out and began to photograph the protest. Suddenly the people who had gotten out of the car, who identified themselves as policemen, began to chase after two of the youths who were at the intersection. The youths fled the scene, but one of them was caught by the policemen. A friend of the detainee who claimed that it wasn’t right for the policemen to detain a youth who hadn’t done anything wrong was also detained. According to friends of the detainees the police used violent force on the second detainee as he was being detained.
The two youths were loaded into the car and taken to the Ariel Police Station where they were interrogated on suspicion of blocking the street. Honenu attorney Aharon Roza briefed the two minors.
During the past few days there has been a sharp rise in the number disturbances caused by Arabs in protest of Operaton “Pillar of Defense”. The disturbances, which have been recorded at dozens of sites in Yehuda and Shomron, include rock throwing at security forces, rock and Molotov cocktail throwing at cars on the roads of Yehuda and Shomron and at least two shooting incidents. A number of Jews injured in the incidents required medical treatment, among them a female resident of Tzur Hadassa who is still hospitalized in serious condition.
Honenu reports that, “It seems that the cease fire is only for the benefit of the Arabs. After the completion of the operation in Gaza suddenly the same security forces who abandoned the roads of Yehuda and Shomron to attacks by the Arabs appeared to deal with the “real enemy”: 16 year old boys protesting quietly.”